BRANDON, Miss. (AP) -- The alleged leader of a satanic group accused of masterminding the deadly Pearl High School shootings was sentenced today to a boot camp-style rehabilitation program and five years of supervised probation.
Grant Boyette, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge of conspiracy in the Oct. 1, 1997, attack that left two students dead and several others wounded."You get the conviction you can get," District Attorney Richard D. Mitchell said following the sentencing.
Boyette was initially charged with three counts of accessory to murder in the school deaths and the fatal stabbing of Mary Woodham, the mother of convicted triggerman Luke Woodham.
Mitchell has said winning a conviction for Boyette would have been difficult because Mary Woodham would have been the primary witness.
Boyette said little during the sentencing, which was attended by his family members and relatives of the shooting victims. He was immediately handcuffed and ushered out of the courthouse by deputies.
Family members declined to comment.
Woodham is serving three life sentences for fatally stabbing his mother, then carrying a gun to school and killing Christina Menefee, 16, whom he had once dated, and Lydia Kaye Dew, 17. He wounded seven other students.
It was one of a series of school shootings that shocked the nation.
Woodham testified during his 1998 trial that he had acted under direct orders from Boyette, a friend he described as both a mentor and tormentor who had introduced him to the occult.
He said Boyette told him he would be "spineless and gutless" if he failed to act.
Investigators said Boyette's group called itself the "Kroth" and talked about killing fellow students and worshipping the devil.